Various candy dispensing devices have been designed and marketed to provide entertaining ways of storing and dispensing confectionary items, such as pieces of candy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,609 issued to Prichard et al. on Oct. 10, 2000, entitled “Candy Dispensing Character” discloses a candy dispensing character with a candy dispensing body, a hollow candy reservoir disposed in the candy dispensing body and sized to hold a plurality of candy pieces, a movable candy dispensing bin attached to the candy dispensing body and being movable between a closed position and an open position in which a portion of the candy dispensing bin extends outwardly from the candy dispensing body so that a piece of candy may be removed from the candy dispensing bin. The candy dispensing character is also provided with a biasing mechanism that causes the candy dispensing bin to be biased towards the closed position and a support, such as a pair of legs, coupled to the candy dispensing body that is shaped so as to be capable of supporting the candy dispensing body in a standing position. The support is operatively coupled to the candy dispensing bin so that movement of the support relative to the candy dispensing body causes the candy dispensing bin to move from the closed position to the open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,463 issued to Richards et al. on Jun. 12, 2001, entitled “Candy Dispenser with Single-User-Action Dispensing Mechanism” discloses a candy dispenser in the form of a toy spacecraft having a single user action dispensing mechanism. The candy dispenser may include an internal cavity to store candies. The internal cavity may be provided in the form of a cockpit for the spacecraft, with a cockpit windshield serving as a lid to retain candies therein. The dispensing mechanism may include a user-depressable button in the form of a passenger of the spacecraft, which upon a single depression, both loads a candy into a firing chamber, and fires the candy from the spacecraft. After each depression of the passenger button, the button is automatically reset to facilitate ease of use and rapid firing. These examples are typical of many dispensers that dispense a confectionary item each time a dispensing mechanism is actuated.